Monday, July 20, 2009

That "One small step for a man...

...One giant leap for mankind"

Today marks the 40th anniversary of the biggest achievement in humankind history, the landing on the moon. I just watched the ultra high revolution photos of that historic moments...it was breathtaking. It was like watching history unveils in front of your very own eyes.

Thanks to NASA, who is currently streaming the original mission audio on its website in real time. I remember spending extra time on the net in the past trying to rebutt all hoax-claimers who refused to believe that we already landed on the moon. The most popular question (after all the other scientific questions posed were easily rebutted by a team of science enthuasiasts) was

"If it (the moon landing) could be done in the past, why didn't they repeat the same feat now?"

The sole reason is economy...I guess. To send a manned spacelight in this era of economic difficulty to the moon is akin to send our hard-earned money into incinerators. It is a very costly affair. We used to have Concorde, the famed supersonic passenger airliner, in service for nearly 27 years. But Concorde no longer can afford to lose money...and it ceased operations about six years ago.

No Concorde traiblazing the sky of Atlantic ocean nowadays doesn't mean we never had Concorde in the past. The same argument can be applies on human achievements in the form of past monuments...such as pyramids, Taj Mahal, and The Great Wall of China. It is my personal belief that all these historic megastructures could be reconstructed by our modern method...but we still don't have the modern version of Taj Mahal or pyramids. Failure to do so now doesn't mean we never did that in the past.

We have achieved so much...and we want more. I hope Mars landing would become a reality in my lifetime. When I was a small child, I wanted to become an astronomer. But now that dream is out of my reach...I hope one day I'll get the chance to lay freely on meadow overseeing the night sky scattered with stars. That was my ultimate childhood dreams...and I want to fulfill it...